I need a new car....

[Mux213]

Well, it didn't turn out to be some expensive import 4 door hi HP saloon, but something totally on the other end of the spectrum

A friend of mine through one of the other car forums I visit frequently suddenly posted this car up. He had driven it without incident for the past couple of years, only a leaking radiator driving it to france and back on his holiday a while back. He was doing a lot of long distance driving with it as a family car and felt it was time to move on to an LPG car with todays gas prices.

Now my friends a pretty strange character. He's crazy about volvo's, has a completely restored 164 but this car, he really just used. He fixed what needed to be fixed, did what needed to be done, but never cared for appearances. He does care about comfort however. My wife saw the pictures and said YUCK, I said, but its BIG, you wanted BIG?!. So we decided to take a look anyways.

I'm glad we did. The car on the outside left me scratching my head. It doesn't have any damage, a few small things that are to be expected from a 21 year old car, but no damage. There is one spot of rust on a crazy spot on one of the fenders, other then that, the body is in great condition, expect that the paint is BAD BAD BAD. Its warn, letting loose in some places, looks ugly, and generally is not pretty. The rimms need a good clear and maybe a spray paint, and all the chrome has long ago lost its ability to reflect light.
Looking at the car from the outside, you feel like you want to run away screaming, all though all thats really wrong with it, is that it needs new paint.

So looking further, opening the doors, now that was a world apart from the outside. The interior is in unbelievable good shape. Except for one small bit on the driver side seat where the leather has come loose in the strangest of locations, you wouldn't give this interior more then 5 years. Its clean, its complete, its good, the seats are firm, not saggy at all, its all leather, its got heated seats, its got all the little nitty bits one could want except for electic mirrors and windows. Very simply put, the inside of the car is perfect.

Engine wise the engine has done a fair amount of miles but for these cars its only halfway its age and will last for many more years. It needs a tuneup and thats it. Might need a new bit of exhaust, my mate mentioned he had replaced part of it a year or 2 ago but it had already developed a small hole, cheap replacement parts I guess

Driving it surprised me positively as well, it handles good, the powersteering feels firm, the gearbox feels good, suspension does its job well, brakes are good except for one rear brake but my mate already mentioned that problem to me, I'm sure I can fix that easy enough.

So but ugly from the outside, great from the inside, drives good, and it cost me less then importing a set of rewinds!